Experimental Study on the Deformation and Strength Characteristics of Saturated Clay under Cyclic Loading

The deformation and strength characteristics of saturated clay are studied through a cyclic triaxial test of clay in the Wenchuan earthquake area. Specifically, the effects of cyclic stress ratio, initial shear stress, and vibration frequency on the dynamic characteristics of saturated clay are analysed. Results show a failure strain in the dynamic strain development of saturated clay. Before the failure strain, the dynamic strain of soil develops slowly. After the failure strain, the soil strain increases sharply and leads to failure. Under the same confining pressure, the failure strain produced by different cyclic stress ratios has a linear relationship with the failure frequency. The dynamic strain development curve of saturated clay can be simplified to failure, transition, and stability types, which are mainly affected by the cyclic stress ratio. Initial shear stress and vibration frequency have significant effects on the deformation and strength characteristics of saturated clay. The larger the initial shear stress or the lower the vibration frequency is, the more sufficient the dynamic strain of soil develops and the fewer the number of cycles required to reach the same dynamic strain. Under the same number of cycles, the larger the initial shear stress or the lower the vibration frequency, the smaller the dynamic stress required to cause soil failure and the lower the dynamic strength of the soil. A turning point exists in the dynamic strength curve of clay. The smaller the initial shear stress or the higher the vibration frequency, the smoother the curve after the turning point and the smaller the tangent slope.

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